Harlequin Heartwarming June 2021 Box Set

by Patricia Johns

  That was seven months ago...and he couldn’t gauge how far along her pregnancy was just by looking at her. She could have met someone after him. She could be in a serious relationship right now, for that matter. She could have gotten pregnant by someone before him... If he remembered properly, she’d just signed her divorce papers, so maybe there had been a very brief reconciliation with her ex?

  Or...was this baby his? His heart jumped at the thought.

  “Noah?”

  He realized that he’d tuned out, and he glanced down at Taryn. “Sorry, what did you say?”

  “Can we start outside? I’ve been wanting to get down to the lake,” she said.

  “Yeah, for sure,” he said with a nod. “The lake is our biggest draw, as you probably know. It’s both glacier fed and from an underground spring, so there are two sources of the purest water. There are restrictions that don’t allow for fishing or dumping, so it’s stayed pristine. It’s also nearly three hundred feet in the deepest spot at the mouth of that spring, so this is no lake to toy with.”

  “I remember that,” she said. “I didn’t know about the spring, though.”

  Noah escorted her to the front entrance, and he nodded at a waiter who was just arriving for his shift in the restaurant.

  “Hi, Mr. Brooks,” the young man said.

  “Hi, Brian,” he said with a smile. “It’s busy today.”

  “Oh, yeah? I can’t complain about that,” Brian replied with a grin. Like all the servers, he made good money off the tips.

  “All right, well, you have a good shift,” Noah said.

  Noah opened the heavy front door and held it for Taryn. She passed through, and he caught a whiff of that floral perfume as it mingled with the fresh outside air. It was a warm June day, but there was still a cool undertone to the mountain-scented breeze. He led the way to the sidewalk along the front of the lodge. His mind was spinning. Noah was in the running for a job in Seattle, and he was hoping to start fresh there...if he could. Was his life about to get complicated again?

  “Do you know all your employees by name?” Taryn asked, glancing up at him.

  “Yes,” he said. “We don’t have that big of a staff, and most of our workers are locals, so you get to know who’s working here pretty quickly.”

  “That’s nice,” she said.

  “Yeah, we have a really low turnover rate here. When someone gets a job at the resort, they tend to hold on to it,” he replied. “I’m proud of that, actually. Angelina and I have been working hard to improve morale and keep the workers we have. It’s better to have happy, experienced staff and pay them a little better than it is to have a high turnover rate and be constantly retraining people at lower pay.”

  “That’s smart,” she said. “I noticed that Angelina sided with a housekeeping employee in a dispute earlier today.”

  “She would,” Noah replied. Angelina was like that. She wouldn’t do just anything for a paying guest. She had limits, and standards.

  “What do you think this lodge has to offer that no one else has?” she asked.

  Noah sucked in a breath, then shrugged. “Angelina.”

  “She’s the one with the vision?” Taryn asked.

  “She’s also the one who won’t bend her ideals,” Noah said. “And that makes this place a cut above the rest. I’m proud to work for her.”

  They came to the side the building and he paused, letting her get the full impact of the lake scene before them. Blue Lake was nestled at the base of three jagged, snowcapped peaks. Clouds wisped around the tops of the mountains, and sun sparkled off the turquoise water. An eagle swooped down over the water and left a trail of froth with its talons, soaring back up with a fish in its grip.

  “Did you see that?” she breathed.

  “Yeah, it’s untarnished up here,” he agreed.

  He watched her for a moment. Leigh. It was tough to adjust to calling her Taryn, even if it was her real name. This woman had been something to him—even though it was brief. He’d thought of her often since that night.

  “Noah?” a voice called behind him, and Noah turned to see Brody Walker heading down the paved path toward him. Brody, former best man, former best friend. Noah’s blood pressure spiked. Brody was a big reason why he wanted a fresh start in a new city. Too much personal history in a town could be a liability.

  Brody caught up to him and gave him a tight nod. “Can we talk?”

  Now? With an audience?

  “I’m obviously working,” Noah said curtly. “It’s not a good time.”

  “It’s never a good time. I’m tired of chasing you down. This won’t take long.” Brody jutted his chin toward a relatively private space a few yards off.

  Noah’s gaze flicked toward Taryn, who was watching them with undisguised curiosity. He lowered his voice. “Fine. You have five minutes.” Noah turned to Taryn. “Feel free to head down to the water and enjoy the view. I won’t be long.”

  Taryn glanced between them once, then wordlessly headed toward the water, and Noah rubbed a hand over his face.

  “What’s so important?” Noah demanded.

  “How many times do I have to apologize to you?” Brody asked.

  “An apology doesn’t fix this!” Noah shot back. “That was betrayal. Nevaeh and I broke up, and you didn’t stick with me. You were the best man, Brody! And you took off to comfort Nevaeh.” He made air quotes around the word comfort. “We aren’t friends anymore. I don’t like you. How clear can I make this?”

  “You and Nevaeh weren’t right for each other,” Brody said. “And don’t make it sound crude. Nevaeh cried the night away. There was no comforting like that.” Brody did the same air quotes.

  “Yet the minute she breaks up with me, you run to her side?” Noah snapped.

  “I always told you straight that I loved her,” Brody said. “I told you from the start that if you ever let her go, I was making my move. I didn’t hide that.”

  “And you did make your move. Congratulations. You got the girl—what the hell do you want with me?”

  Brody’s face paled and he dropped his gaze. “Look, I know I moved fast, but I wasn’t giving up my chance with her. Nevaeh wants kids and you don’t. You could have gotten her back if you wanted to give her what she needed—”

  “Like you were,” Noah said.

  “Yeah, like I was,” Brody replied. “I want the same things—and you don’t. She wants a family, Noah. She wants kids! Is that so unforgivable? And I want kids, too. We love each other, and we make each other happy.”

  Noah stared at the smaller man. “And?”

  Had Brody come to gloat?

  “And I want to marry her,” Brody said, and his voice caught. He cleared his throat. “I’m going to ask her to marry me, and before I do, I want to do my best to make sure that you and I are...okay. If that’s possible.”

  Noah’s blood felt like it had slowed to molasses in his veins, and he stared at the man incredulously.

  “You’re going to propose,” Noah repeated.

  “I already bought a ring,” Brody said.

  “And you want my bloody blessing?” The moment seemed to finally catch up, and Noah felt his blood heat to a boil. “You take advantage of everything I lost, and you want me to wish you well?”

  “You and I were buddies—”

  They’d had each other’s back since they were kids. They’d hung out, defended each other, covered for each other a time or two. As grown men, they’d gone fishing together, talked about the deep stuff late into the night, and Brody was the one Noah had confided in before he’d proposed to Nevaeh a year ago.

  Did Brody want some sort of absolution so that he could marry his best friend’s ex-fiancée without a twinge of guilt? He wasn’t going to give it.

  “Go ahead and propose, but you aren’t getting my blessing to make this any
less awkward than it already is,” Noah said.

  “Okay,” Brody said curtly. “Don’t say I didn’t try and make things right with you.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it,” Noah said icily.

  Damn it—Noah needed this job in Seattle. He couldn’t stay in Mountain Springs and watch those two get married. He’d been through enough.

  Brody turned and walked resolutely away. As Noah relaxed his fingers, his hands trembled. He’d wanted to give Brody the right hook he deserved. Not that he’d ever actually do it. He was civilized, after all.

  Taryn stood on the lakeshore, and she bent down and picked something up from the pebbly beach. She was beautiful—rounded with the pregnancy, and he liked it, he realized. Gone were the days when long, lithe, young bodies were what he wanted. These days he seemed to be drawn to something different—a softer figure, a gentler face. He admired the way Taryn’s eyes sparkled when she smiled.

  Nevaeh had been ten years younger than him—young, bright, nary a gray hair in sight. And she’d wanted children...

  Taryn turned as his leather shoes crunched over the smooth rocks underfoot. She held a pebble in her palm.

  “Forgive me, but that sounded a bit intense,” she said.

  He met her gaze, and for a moment he was tempted to brush the question aside and get their professional banter back. Except that she wasn’t just the marketing expert, was she? He didn’t have the energy to guess about something this important. He needed to know.

  “Seven months ago, my fiancée, Nevaeh, called off our wedding,” he said. “That guy who was so intent on talking to me is Brody, and he was supposed to be my best man. He just informed me that he’s asking Nevaeh to marry him.”

  Taryn’s eyes widened, and the color seeped from her cheeks. “Um—” She licked her lips and dropped her gaze to the black oval rock she held. “I met someone a few months back who had a similar situation—he and his fiancée broke up because she wanted children and he didn’t. His best man moved right in on her...” She raised her dark gaze to meet his again, and he could read the question in her eyes. He’d told her about that at the pub—they’d talked for hours.

  “Leigh,” he said.

  She swallowed, silent.

  “I shaved,” he added quietly. “And, um, the glasses are new.”

  Taryn swayed slightly. He put out a hand to steady her, and she took a step back, closing her hand into a fist around the pebble.

  “That was you?” she breathed.

  “Yeah. I shaved the beard off when I got home. A new-start kind of thing. But that was me. I recognized you right away.”

  She nodded, and she pressed her lips together. She seemed to be thinking, but she didn’t say anything.

  “Taryn, I’m going to ask you something,” he said quietly. “And this might be really offensive...” He paused, and she didn’t look up. “I have to know... Is the baby...mine?”

  Taryn sucked in a slow breath, and some color came back to her face in a flush. “I was so stupidly, naively relieved that there was no father to make any claims on this child...”

  What did that mean? He waited, silent, his breath bated.

  “You didn’t want to be a father, I thought,” she said at last. “At least, that’s what you said.”

  “I didn’t,” he said. “I don’t. I just might not have a choice—”

  Taryn was silent for a few beats before she shrugged faintly. “Yes, you’re the father. But you still have a choice about being a dad.”

  His heart thudded hard twice, and then it felt like it stopped in his chest.

  CHAPTER TWO

  TARYN FELT THE baby shift, and she put her hand on the side of her belly. Noah looked like he might pass out, and she eyed him for a moment, trying to figure out if she felt sorry for him. This wasn’t planned, obviously, and it would be a shock...but no, he didn’t get her pity. At their age, how babies came about was no surprise. Children were always a possibility with certain types of relationships, although in her defense, she hadn’t thought she was even able to conceive. She and Glen had tried for a decade to have a baby—it had been the heartbreaking theme of their entire marriage.

  “I don’t want anything from you,” Taryn added. “I’m perfectly ready and willing to raise this baby alone.”

  “We, uh...” Noah swallowed. “We used protection, though. Are you sure I’m the father?”

  It was a valid question. “The only other man I was with was my now ex-husband. And we struggled with fertility. We hadn’t been together in a year by the time I signed those divorce papers. So trust me, I was as shocked as you are now,” she said. “But I’ve had a few more months to get used to it.”

  “I feel like I’m going to regret how I reacted here,” he said. “I don’t mean to imply—” he glanced around “—anything. We don’t really know each other.”

  “It’s okay,” she said. “No offense taken.”

  “Is it a boy or girl? Or do you know?”

  “It’s a boy,” she said. “I’ve had enough surprises. I wanted to know the sex.”

  “Makes sense,” he said. “And I know you say you don’t want anything from me, but I’m not the kind of guy who just turns his back on his own child, either.”

  “But do you want to be a father?” she asked. “Because I wasn’t even looking for you. This was...” She cast about, looking for a word to describe it. “This was some weird stroke of coincidence. Yes, you’re the biological father, but I’m not desperate for help. I’m fine, and I’m perfectly happy to raise my son on my own. That hasn’t changed. I certainly won’t be advertising that you’re the father. We can keep that between us. I’m giving you an out if you want it.”

  In fact, Taryn hoped he would take her up on that, because while raising this child alone would be difficult, it would be less complicated than trying to juggle two families. And yet, when her son asked about his dad one day...would he be upset that she hadn’t tried harder?

  “An out?” Noah frowned.

  “You weren’t planning on this,” she said.

  “Neither were you.”

  So he wasn’t going to take an easy exit. She wasn’t sure if she should be impressed or irritated.

  “I’ve wanted a baby for years,” she countered. “This fulfills my deepest desires. It doesn’t for you—and that’s okay.”

  “Was this—” He swallowed. “Was this something you did on purpose?”

  “No!” She shook her head. “No, that night together was just comfort, I guess. I was heartbroken, and upset, and...feeling very rejected. I wasn’t trying to get pregnant with a stranger’s child. Trust me, if I were going to take that route, there are more clinical ways to go about it. This was an accident.”

  “Okay, well, I’m not walking away from my responsibilities,” he said, and for a moment, they just looked at each other. Then he sighed. “Is this going to make working together difficult?”

  “I need this project,” she confessed. “I’m a small business owner, and if I’m to get a maternity leave at all, I have to pay for it myself. So, I do understand how this might be awkward between us, but please don’t ask Angelina to find someone else—”

  “I wouldn’t do that,” he said. “Come on... I’m not a jerk. Not that you’d really know that. So let me just reassure you that I have no intention of ruining this job for you.”

  Taryn felt a surge of relief. That was a start.

  “Thank you,” she said. “And maybe we can get to know each other a little bit. I mean...just on a human level.”

  Because she’d just told this man that he was the father of her child, and she didn’t actually know him. Was he a good guy? That might be wise to find out. He still looked a little wan, and he ran a hand through his hair.

  “Do you wish you hadn’t asked now?” she asked. “Or that I’d lied?”

  Bec
ause she was starting to wish she had...

  “No.” He met her gaze and he smiled faintly. “I’d rather know the truth. It’s better than a surprise in twenty years, right?”

  “Maybe,” she admitted. “But just to be clear, I don’t want anything from you. Seeing you again wasn’t part of my plan. So no pressure.”

  “How are we going to do this?” he asked.

  Taryn ran her hand over her stomach. “I don’t know. Let’s just...work. And we’ll figure out the baby stuff later on.”

  “Okay,” he agreed, and he looked around, then his drilling gaze swung back to her. “Did you want to continue the tour?”

  “Maybe I’ll head up to my room and get settled first,” she said. She wouldn’t be paying attention to the details that she needed to absorb, anyway.

  In this moment, with a cool breeze coming off the water and the laughter of a nearby family filtering through the air, Taryn deeply wished she were a better liar. She’d always prided herself on her honesty and integrity, but everything would be a whole lot easier today if she’d just followed the knee-jerk reaction to lie to the man.

  How many men lied to women? Glen had lied to her for two and half years about his relationship with another woman. Given the speed of her conceiving a baby with another man, she was also inclined to believe that Glen might have been the issue with their troubles conceiving, despite his insistence that he wasn’t. The general population was steeped in lies, and yet here Taryn was at the age of thirty-nine, and her personal sense of integrity wouldn’t let her do it.

  One lie to Noah would have given this man a wild sense of relief, but that lie would have turned into a thousand more when her own child asked who his father was. She’d yearned for motherhood for too long to become the mother who lied to her child. Her marriage had broken, her life’s path had gone awry, but she refused to mess this up. She might end up being one of the oldest moms at the playground, but she’d be a good one.

  “Let me help you with your bags,” Noah said. “It’s the least I can do.”